W.E.B. Du Bois

by

LAST MODIFIED: 26 July 2017

DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780190221911-0022

Introduction

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (b. 1868–d. 1963) made field-altering contributions, stretching from the 1890s until the 1960s, to intellectual history, social science, modernist aesthetics, and politics in the United States and around the world. From the 1960s until the present, two Du Bois’s have emerged, so to speak: Du Bois the historical personage, who was born in 1868 and who died in 1963, writer of dozens of books, thousands of lectures and articles, founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and founding editor of its news organ, The Crisis; and Du Bois the symbol, which people and organizations wield to legitimate their own agendas, whether or not they fit Du Bois the person’s political efforts. Although no perfect balance can be struck, much is lost in emphasizing the symbol over the historical personage. Symbolism allows one to celebrate the image of Du Bois the thinker. Returning to the texts enables one to study his way of thinking. Like other great intellectuals in the black diaspora, Du Bois’s greatest gift, more than any single insight, is his way of thinking, which only the text can convey. This article takes this claim as its organizing principle.